


RELAXER

by monolaytrist



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Another Pool Fic From This Author, Hello detective there is a murderer in this story, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Psychological Thriller, Sociopath character, Summer, Twin trouble, Yixing Gets His Dream Role Fulfilled, ZJS Is Here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-19
Updated: 2019-11-19
Packaged: 2021-02-13 02:00:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21486478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monolaytrist/pseuds/monolaytrist
Summary: "No flask can keep it,Bubble up and cut right through"— Dissolve / Absofacto
Relationships: Kim Junmyeon | Suho/Zhang Yi Xing | Lay
Comments: 10
Kudos: 18





	RELAXER

**Author's Note:**

>   
****   
Do not copy and/or translate any part of my work and claim as your own. Click [here](https://www.plagiarism.org/article/what-is-plagiarism) to know what plagiarism is and why it is wrong. Be a decent content creator for your otp.   


A soft click punctured the silence in the narrow hallway as the front door closed. Small thuds of sneakers taken off. Guitar chords playing from the small living room continued.

Junmyeon smiled as he hung his coat and left the keys in one of its pockets. A gentle pat resulted to some muffled clinks. He did the same on the pocket of the jacket hanging next to it. It gave out the same clinking. Assured that his roommate would never forget the key whichever jacket he’d wear, Junmyeon padded towards their living area, towards the source of music.

The said roommate was on the couch, cradling his guitar on his lap and muttering the lyrics to what Junmyeon had come to call as ‘the binary song’. Bed hair, black tank top, a pair of pyjamas and the struggle to make the twang of the strings decent albeit the lazy picking and bad positioning on the chair, told Junmyeon that his roommate had barely managed to trudge his way from the bed towards it. He could only smile despite the clumsiness; his roommate was also his boyfriend in the first place.

“01110011 Crying zeros and I'm hearing 111s,” Yixing continued to mumble as he timed the words to his strumming. The sound softened as Junmyeon took the time to wrap his arms around his boyfriend from the back of the couch.

He gave Yixing's cheek a peck then asked, “When will the binary song be released?”

“Quite soon.”

Junmyeon nodded and slipped in, “I’m home.” He'd better not forget one of their house rules which he personally fought for before his mind would wander to doing something else, like checking their fridge's content.

“Welcome home,” the other replied. Yixing's minty breath had Junmyeon kissing him on the cheek again before pulling away.

Yixing was never the type to follow any rules which didn’t make any sense to him and Junmyeon was quite pleased after convincing his boyfriend to acknowledge each other's goings on in their small shared space.

“Do I get to be the first one to listen to your song?” Junmyeon asked as he headed to their kitchen. The old fridge let out a buzzing sound as he opened it, almost drowning Yixing’s ‘Probably’ from the living room. He could only smile at the other’s admission while the fridge remained empty.

The food delivery app was soon open on his palm as his phone’s screen lit the small area of the kitchen. Junmyeon craned his neck to get a better view of his boyfriend from the couch and asked, “Love, what do you want for our late lunch?”

The nest of dark wavy hair tipped to the side of their striped love seat's backrest, and a voice muttered, “Not Chinese.”

“Chicken or pizza?”

“Soy garlic all-fave and extra. Or half and half,” came Yixing’s answer.

Junmyeon opted for the latter with Yixing’s preferences—thin crust, half deluxe, half vegan, extra cheese, extra brown, and cut into four. It only took Junmyeon one try and a notepad to get Yixing’s order specifics the first time and it was on a date. It usually took at least three repetitions for the person taking their order to get the instructions right when it came to ordering it.

Luckily, they had been ordering from the same pizza place for the past five months that Yixing’s order had become ‘the usual’ and was adequately prepared that Yixing would bring a slice to his mouth with less than five seconds of scrutiny. Junmyeon smiled at the memory when he first learned about Yixing’s fussiness and the resulting adamant refusal if things were not according to 'what had been agreed upon'.

“Pool summer summer pool pool summer…” Yixing continued to drone in accompaniment to his guitar as Junmyeon poured himself a glass of water.

He thought it was high time to give Yixing’s playing a rest.

The empty glass was left on their small dining table to be used again later. Junmyeon’s steps took him in front of his boyfriend and soon, his fingers reached out to pick on Yixing’s fringes, picking them away from the other's forehead.

A bead of sweat streaked down Yixing’s temple as the occasional blowing of air from the fan hit Junmyeon’s back. They should really get their unit’s AC repaired.

“Hey, the delivery will be late,” he told Yixing.

The strumming this time remained uninterrupted as Yixing looked up to him.

“It’s hot, isn’t it,” the other returned in the most nonchalant tone, something Junmyeon had come to learn as the other’s way of taunting.

“I'm probably hotter” he returned, earning Junmyeon a raised eyebrow from his boyfriend. “Xing, time’s running.”

“We have all day.”

“Can’t I have you right now?”

“Jo’s lecture was that boring?” Yixing asked, the tip of his tongue soon peeking from his lips in concentration as he plucked successive chords.

It was not Junmyeon’s Psych professor’s fault for being boring, per se, but he had only been thinking about Yixing in the past days.

Probably it was the summer heat that started it. And also his fixation on anything Yixing would do that his mind would interpret as sexy.

Last Saturday they were hanging out at the ice cream parlour near the park and his boyfriend just had this way of licking his ice lolly which—reminded him of that one and only time Yixing sucked him and—eventually kept Junmyeon awake and hard in the following nights. It was then that he realised his attraction to his boyfriend was way beyond what could be considered healthy.

“Jo's lectures are naturally boring,” Junmyeon retorted, pausing by staring at Yixing's lips and admitting, “And lately I can’t seem to think about anything but how you use your tongue.”

“A Freudian slip.”

“His Psychosexual Stages of Development does not apply to us,” Junmyeon reminded. Yixing only sniggered.

“Xing, please don't make this so hard."

A small smile worked on the other’s lips as his strumming crescendoed, only to halt when Yixing covered the strings with his palm. The moving fan on the side and the bubbling of the water from Junmyeon's small aquarium tank on one of the shelves supplied noises to the sudden silence.

“Kiss me,” Yixing singsonged as Junmyeon accepted the invite by first removing the guitar from his boyfriend's lap and settling, almost throwing it to the next seat. 

Straddling Yixing's lap, he took a breath in as the other's simple hold on his waist made him feel hotter. Yixing always had a way of waiting and looking at him at such a moment which always gave Junmyeon the power to pursue his want. And pursued he did as he closed his eyes and connected their lips.

The drone of the music video playing on the TV and the twisting of their old electric fan was relaxing. Yixing's heartbeats, which he was listening to, and the soft blow of air on the skin of his back made Junmyeon sigh contentedly while lying on his stomach. His upper body lay on Yixing's chest, head tucked under his boyfriend's chin, while their legs remained tangling and unmoving on the couch. 

Junmyeon had made his tired triceps, quads, hamstrings and, most especially, his glutes as reasons for the post-coital cuddling, while Yixing didn't comment as he turned on the TV and let Junmyeon pin him down on the couch with a hug. He was starting to doze off when he felt Yixing's arms circling his waist and resting on his back to hold him. Yixing didn't move any more and remained silent, probably watching TV, so Junmyeon decided to do the same.

Absofacto's Dissolve started playing on the screen and the memory of cool water in the summer heat gave Junmyeon an idea. He raised his head from Yixing's chest to look at the other, whose attention remained on the pool video with chill music on TV.

“Why don’t we head out of town this coming holiday?” he asked, finally making Yixing look at him. "Let's go to the sea or something."

“My treat," Yixing said, more of the only option than a suggestion.

Junmyeon slowly nodded, knowing full well that his student budget would only be enough to send him on a bus outside of Seoul without the return trip. And though he was aware Yixing had a bit more money than him, he made it a point to go dutch on all of the previous couple expenses. “I’m still a struggling university student,” he admitted.

Yixing continued to stare at him for a while, thinking, before saying, “We don’t need to go out of town. I can just house sit a rich friend’s house for a weekend, then I can ask if we can hang out their pool as payment.”

A very nice idea. Yixing would prefer to call it economic.

"Though we must refrain from stirring up trouble in someone else's pool," he muttered while a small smile grew on Yixing's lips.

"I'm fine with having some wholesome fun in a decent pool with you," Yixing said, his gaze unrelenting while Junmyeon's smile stretched into a grin.

And as automatic as the happiness Junmyeon felt upon hearing those words, he pushed himself forward to catch Yixing's lips with his. The other's arms around Junmyeon's waist loosened, replaced with palms gliding on his lower back as Junmyeon deepened the kiss.

It felt like being thrown into a short video clip on loop when the stirring inside Junmyeon grew stronger the more his tongue danced with his boyfriend's. A pause to breathe had him staring at Yixing's handsome face and also realising the growing member by his thigh that wasn't his.

A slow smile worked on his lips as he dipped back to kiss his boyfriend, his other hand reaching down between them to hold both their hardness. A few deliberate tugs from his hand and a deeper kiss had Yixing bending beneath him, the friction making Junmyeon moan as his hand brought between them soon roamed upwards, briefly picking on Yixing's nipple as his mouth moved to kiss the other's jaw.

"Go for one more?" Junmyeon managed to murmur along with the pleasured sighs which escaped him. He did not need to wait for an answer when Yixing pressed and answered the rhythm of his movements, biting Junmyeon's lips into a kiss when Junmyeon's grin stretched as if unbearable for the other to witness.

The doorbell to their apartment buzzed halting Junmyeon for a bit. His hips stuttered from the comfortable rhythm they were having but his boyfriend's hands gripping his butt were enough to pull him back on track.

"The pizza," he said, more air than his voice as his body sought a faster beat to the sweet friction.

Once found, he sustained, while Yixing beneath him groaned, seemingly unsatisfied with the pace. Junmyeon could only muffle his moan by connecting their lips again as their movements became faster and harder.

"Love—" Another buzz from the doorbell. And Junmyeon was about to curse for getting distracted once again, when Yixing's hand grabbed onto his manhood, tugging at it so sweetly that it only took a few more of his boyfriend's ministration for Junmyeon to spill on both their stomachs.

With ragged breaths, he continued to move as the man beneath him continued to chase after his own release. When Yixing's movement stuttered, Junmyeon snatched his boyfriend's intake of air with another kiss. 

Yixing's moan brought Junmyeon smiling and soon making him nose his boyfriend's neck to draw more. He peppered kisses along Yixing's jugular, swallowing a hiss when Yixing's fingernails dug on the skin of his butt.

The grip Yixing had on his backside tightened and soon his release added to the mess Junmyeon had made on their skin.

Junmyeon pushed himself to sit, his body complaining from the soreness of another round but his mind rejoicing at the view before him—of Yixing catching his breath after their exertion, his skin glistening from sweat and his face flushed pink. He leaned on the couch, waiting, and when Yixing had calmed down, Junmyeon asked, "Can you get our pizza for me?"

Yixing stared at him for a bit and silently moved to stand. He picked up tank top to wipe his stomach with, but his hand soon stilled after realising a blunder.

Junmyeon soon reached for his shirt which luckily had not fallen off the armrest of the couch and handed it to his boyfriend. The other accepted and wore it with his pair of pyjamas, briefly dropping by their small kitchen to wash and headed to their main door to get the delivery.

The usual delivery person's friendly voice could be heard from the door, Yixing was obviously having a small chat. Junmyeon made the small effort to pick up his boxer briefs and put it on for their late meal as he waited, sighing in defeat when Yixing returned with the box of pizza and just gave him a stare.

There was no bargaining when it came to any Yixing-related staredowns for Junmyeon and so he pushed himself up from the couch, any protests or even a whine clamped shut in his mouth as he slowly made his way to their kitchen sink to wash his hands.

Yixing was already eating a slice of pizza when he returned. It was always a silent affair for the other, even during meals, and it was usually the opposite for Junmyeon who would talk a lot. This time, though, Junmyeon just wanted to sit clinging next to his boyfriend and eat silently too, which he successfully achieved by slotting an arm into Yixing's bent one and lazily leaning his body to a half hug.

After taking a few bites from his own slice, it didn't take long for the slow music from the TV to easily lull Junmyeon, his eyelids drooping and his head nodding as he fought hard to stay awake. But with needs sated so he was relaxed, he let his eyes close briefly, feeling Yixing's slight movements on the arm Junmyeon was leaning on.

A splat and the jerk of his now empty hand woke Junmyeon up, his half-eaten pizza slice now on the floor. He groggily reached for it to throw away, missing on the first attempt so Yixing moved himself to pick the thing off.

"I was falling asleep," Junmyeon muttered while Yixing tossed the fallen slice to the upturned lid of the pizza box.

"We don't want you choking on your food again," the other said, reminding Junmyeon of the time he fell asleep while eating that he woke up coughing and heaving after his half-chewed chicken meat got stuck in his throat.

Yixing helped him get his cup of soda from the table when he reached for it and waited as Junmyeon took two big gulps from it. Putting his cup down, Junmyeon wiped his hands with the free table napkins and lay on the couch while resting his head on the arm rest.

"That is better," Yixing said which only made Junmyeon smile with the implied care in those few words.

He knew Yixing would never be the person who'd directly express his feelings through words, which Junmyeon first guessed as personality related. But the more he lived with the man, the more Junmyeon found Yixing's being off as something worthy of attention, even research—Junmyeon was a Psych major in the first place, his degree an easy consent form to his roommate when it came to observations.

It was Yixing who easily answered Junmyeon's observations on him, though. It was as unsurprising as a smaller amygdala on the scans, where Junmyeon's view of the other, instead of a 'high-functioning sociopath' remained that of an interesting guy or a 'person with an IQ of 160' and also that of a smart Chem student. This sort of simple view proved to be not so simple to Junmyeon, who had turned invested, on the verge of being obsessed, a year and a month later.

"I love you," Junmyeon said, watching Yixing pick up another slice and eat it.

"You're not going back to sleep yet?" Yixing looked at him.

"My nucleus accumbens, ventral tegmental area, insula, and anterior cingulate are firing up right now and I just have to let you know," he reasoned, knowing that love was outside of the range of emotions Yixing could and would ever feel.

"I have a copy of my brain scan during a study which involves a photograph of you. I'll get it once I drop by the lab next time," Junmyeon continued, smiling at the memory of the moment he heard one of his professors' interpretations. He was more committed to the person in the photo shown to him than Junmyeon initially thought.

"Show it to me once available," Yixing told him and went back to silently finishing his slice of pizza.

Junmyeon hummed an answer, watching his boyfriend until he slowly eased back to the comfortable confines of rest.

° ° °

The corners of his eyes still stung and his nose was still runny. Junmyeon sniffed as he bit into his scoop of chocolate mint ice cream as Yixing sipped his ice cream soda from across.

They were spending their afternoon in one of the umbrella-ed seats of the ice cream stand in the nearby park, after Yixing decided it would make Junmyeon okay after discovering their pet fish had died.

Caspian was the name of Junmyeon's pet fish, a lone male Betta in a five-gallon aquarium. Caspian was his third son, as his pair of veiltail goldfishes [named Byul and Uju] jumped out of the tank to their death. The three fishes were Yixing's presents—Byul and Uju were for Junmyeon's birthday, while Caspian was 'to make Junmyeon happy' after the pair died.

After swimming alone for two months, Caspian, similar to his siblings, was found on their wooden floor. A soaked steel blue wilted petal Junmyeon carefully scooped.

'Caspian's dead,' he announced, staring at his cupped hands holding the fish when Yixing came out from their bedroom.

'What happened?' asked the other as he approached Junmyeon.

'It's like what you said,' Junmyeon returned to his boyfriend, tears brimming from his eyes as he remembered Yixing's comment when they found Byul and Uju on the floor two months prior: 'Fish drown in air if you think about it'.

Junmyeon finally turned around and shook his head. 'I don't know what I'm doing wrong,' he admitted.

'You did nothing wrong,' Yixing replied with an indifference Junmyeon had learned to accept. But such calmness still pushed the tears out of Junmyeon's eyes to amply fall down his cheeks, remembering that Yixing would never understand the feelings Junmyeon had associated with loss.

'Let's bury Caspian and get you some ice cream outside to feel better,' the other suggested as he picked Junmyeon up from the floor, sobbing and still cupping their dead son in his hands.

About an hour later, with a cone of ice cream on hand, Junmyeon was feeling less of the sadness the loss of his fish son had brought. Yixing was sipping from his cream soda silently while scrolling through his phone. Distant shouts and laughter from kids and parents alike filled the sound of the wind and some birds singing.

"I hope there's no replacement this time," Junmyeon started and Yixing paused from his phone to look at him. "I think I can't handle taking care of another fish only to find it jumping to its death on the floor," he soon admitted.

"I'm not planning to get you any this time," Yixing said, no hint of malice in his tone. It was just his way of confirming with Junmyeon about his thoughts and Junmyeon had gotten used to. "Why is Caspian different from Byul and Uju?" Yixing soon followed but his attention was back to his phone.

"I don't know. I've yet to think about this whole event but it does hurt more losing him than the twins. Maybe for me, Caspian is more special." Junmyeon then smiled bitterly at the sudden realization. He was obviously playing favourites with the fishes but it was too late.

Once Junmyeon had popped the tip of the ice cream cone into his mouth, Yixing had moved to pocket his phone and leave his seat. Junmyeon followed, slotting his fingers with Yixing's when he caught up, and smiled when the latter looked at him with a smirk as their held hands tightened.

"A friend had left me the keys to his house by the way," Yixing said on their way back to their shared apartment. "We can head there this weekend."

"Can't wait," Junmyeon returned, playfully pulling on Yixing hand and giving his boyfriend's cheek a peck.

° ° °

The breath Junmyeon held as he left the cab with Yixing remained in his chest as he stared at the property in front of them. The shades he was wearing couldn't mask the rounding of his eyes as disbelief consumed him. He was still beside the road of the upscale neighborhood, one of the most exclusive in Seoul, clutching on the strap of his weekend travel backpack as he gaped.

“Are you sure this is the place?” he asked Yixing, only for the latter to smirk back at him and pull out a card key from his pocket. "Are you sure we can house-sit this place? I mean can't they hire guards instead?"

"Village security is already tight and the house is equipped with 24-hour surveillance," answered Yixing as he opened the gate for Junmyeon. "After you."

"Yixing, we're not breaking any laws by being here, are we?" Junmyeon turned back to his boyfriend as the gate gave out a soft beep after it closed.

"We couldn't have reached here if we are breaking any laws. Besides, I'm just following the basic rule on utility including privileges between friends." Yixing walked ahead and used the same card key to open the main door. Junmyeon should stop disbelieving if the key to the house itself did not follow the simple 0-1 logic, though, he still goggled at the mini Japanese-style garden they passed by inside the mansion.

"What kind of family even lives here," Junmyeon absently muttered when they reached the living room. Yixing fell on the long couch as another short beep of an AC starting greeted their arrival.

They were in a modern mansion filled with smart appliances and gadgets and with owners who probably found a way to be invisible considering their advanced taste. Of course Junmyeon was kidding, but this kind of extravagance was on the level of unusual for him, while Yixing lounged on the black velvet couch like he had always belonged there.

"My friend has always lived here alone," Yixing answered as Junmyeon settled his backpack on one of the accent chairs. "His parents are working overseas."

Busy with their job while the thought of having a neglected child somewhere in another country barely crossed their minds, Junmyeon supposed. He looked at his boyfriend who had made himself comfortable on the couch, understanding the possible reason why the owner of the mansion and Yixing clicked.

Yixing was never the type to flaunt and Junmyeon wasn't the type to ask about such things either. But the way Yixing was quite relaxed around money-matters, aside from the very few but surprisingly rich friends he got [Junmyeon met one who collected Maseratis as a hobby] spoke so much of his background. Junmyeon had never asked but could only guess that maybe having that kind of lifestyle they were having in their rundown apartment was something of a novelty for Yixing who always had everything in life. It could also explain why someone so ordinary like Junmyeon was also interesting for Yixing with all things considered.

"We are only allowed on the first floor. Upstairs are off-limits," Junmyeon heard Yixing say as he ventured towards the kitchen.

"So are we sleeping in the living room?" he asked, opening the cabinets and drawers to figure out where things were stored. So far he had found out where the complete set of cutlery and porcelain plates were, as expected from such a house.

"We can if you want to," Yixing answered. "But there are available bedrooms on this floor and we can each get one for ourselves." His soft voice only grew louder and soon, arms were wrapping around Junmyeon's waist.

Closing the filled smart refrigerator as a pause from his kitchen inspection, Junmyeon turned to hug his boyfriend back. "Do you really want to spend the night in this place alone in a bedroom?" he asked as his gaze met Yixing's and let it trail down to his boyfriend's lips. The resulting pursing of his own dry lips and licking it was an inevitable reaction for Junmyeon.

"Will you let me?" Yixing insinuated, his dimple creasing at his own challenge which annoyed Junmyeon a bit.

"If it means we avoid getting into funny business that might be disrespectful to your friend, then yes, I agree that we should each have our own bedroom." Junmyeon cupped Yixing's cheeks and gave his boyfriend a peck on the lips.

Yixing didn't budge when Junmyeon moved and instead tilted his head to the side and said, "I don't understand you sometimes." His smirk didn't disappear from his handsome face, though, so Junmyeon could only sigh in response.

"We can't have sex here because I find it inappropriate to be doing it in someone else's house," he reasoned, all the while withholding the fact that he would be willing to get wild with Yixing if not for the countless surveillance cameras within the house and the expensive surfaces he had no idea how to clean in case he stained them.

"I can still kiss you the way you like it, though?" Junmyeon offered as a compromise which had the other chuckling and tightening his hold around Junmyeon's waist.

When Yixing leaned in, it was slow enough that Junmyeon knew of the moment he closed his eyes when the distance was right. A warm hand cupped his cheek while the other hand which remained to hug him pulled him closer, as if Yixing was telling him through his hold that the gap between them was still too big to his liking. Their lips pressed as long as Yixing's breath with Junmyeon breaking into a grin as soon as it ended. It wasn't their usual voracious kiss, but Junmyeon felt it was one of the sweetest he got from his boyfriend.

"Just the way I like it," Yixing muttered, prolonging his contact by resting his forehead to Junmyeon's.

Junmyeon thought that his offer meant differently as he hugged his boyfriend back again. But if Yixing liked their kisses to be more slow and vanilla with lots of warm hugs, then Junmyeon might probably survive the weekend without breaking their no funny business rule. Though, he was fast to admit that he would probably need lots of this kind of kiss.

The afternoon passed so slowly, meals were prepared and shared between them—a late lunch of kimchi fried rice and an early dinner of pesto pasta which Yixing mostly cooked while Junmyeon interfered with, legs tangled on the couch as they lined up movies to play and watch, and soon Yixing was back in the kitchen to prepare snacks and drinks for their agreed night swimming.

Junmyeon sat by the pool side next to the tray of glasses filled with GT and a small bowl of chips and chocolate, watching Yixing lazily swim laps. His t-shirt had come off, soaked when his boyfriend decided to be playful the moment Junmyeon came near. Yixing only stopped the splashing when Junmyeon picked up the tray from the table and brought it with him to sit just before the pool gutter.

Soon, Yixing was sitting next to him while he passed the other glass of GT and sat the bowl of snacks on his lap. The other silently sipped his drink and watched the glistening, slightly illuminated water in front of them.

"I like how we're spending our time like this, Yixing," Junmyeon said, drowning the soft lapping of the water on the edge of the pool.

Empty glass between them, he watched the other in his usual silence.

"You'll like it better if it were with the real Yixing," replied Yixing without breaking his gaze from what was ahead of them.

Junmyeon had heard this from his boyfriend before—a form of disassociation which worried and intrigued him at the same time, but he never had the chance to talk about much with Yixing. He could only guess by then that it must be brought by issues between what Yixing was expected versus what he actually wanted to do, that the struggle to pursue his wants until then produced this sort of ennui that occasionally showed up in the least expected situations. And maybe with a little help from alcohol.

"What is the real Yixing like?" he asked, not hoping for an answer with the way it became so silent between them. Yet Junmyeon's eyes searched the person sitting next to him for anything less than real.

"He's very likeable that he has many friends, is crazy smart that he easily gets top grades with minimal effort, and is actually very nice. He's his parents' favourite." Yixing turned to look at him, looking like a kid who realized that someone else got better scores on a quiz he worked so hard for. It was the look of childish indignation and abandonment expressed on the face of a very stubborn person. "He's more like you, that's why I think you'd get along pretty well," Yixing said which made Junmyeon feel a profound ache in his chest.

"More than how we get along?" Yixing nodded and Junmyeon just had to remind him, cupping his cheek, "I think you're already real for me. Your friends I've met, the academic achievements you've shared, and the stories of your parents you've told. They're all real. Even how much I adore you.

"Can there be anything more real than this? Than us?" Junmyeon searched for some sort of agreement from Yixing's eyes. Yet all he saw was how that bit of emotion evident from the other's gaze for a moment was overcome with the usual indifference.

"You'll be surprised," Yixing returned.

The serious take made Junmyeon laugh and pull his boyfriend into a hug. "Yeah, you arguing like this is real as well. Unfortunately for me I love everything about you." He sniffed, swiping the pooling tears from his eyes away. "I love you."

"Are you crying?" Yixing asked.

Junmyeon took a breath in and maintained his hug. He didn't want to make it about him so he gave Yixing a squeeze and said, "You're enough and I love you."

Breaking the embrace so he can look at Yixing, he let out a soft sigh upon the sight of the other. His wet boyfriend looking more handsome was mostly thanks to Junmyeon's blurry vision brought by his emotions. He tried to blink away the filtered view, but Yixing remained god-level attractive that there must be no other culprit for the haze but the GT. Pair it with the internal warmth and comfort Junmyeon was feeling and he'd probably jump Yixing if he remained.

"I'm sorry to break our moment but I need to pee," he muttered, giving Yixing a peck on the lips then struggling to straighten up while fighting the haze. He laughed on the way inside after the other thanked him for not peeing in the pool and he laughed harder for himself who needed a good splash of water to get a bit less inebriated.

It must be because Junmyeon had not drunk alcohol for a while that his tolerance lowered. Or Yixing's GT mix was strong. Because even though he had peed his bladder out and washed his face with cold water complete with chastising his reflection in the mirror, the warmth remained and the haze maintained. 

He detoured to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of cold water to drink, calling out to Yixing who went back to swimming. "Love? You need to drink water, too."

The splashing stopped as he drank and the silence remained, even after the clink of the glass on the marbled countertop.

"Yixing?" Junmyeon called again and when no answer came, he brought the small water jug he had gotten from the freezer and returned to the pool side.

His reminder disappeared at the tip of his tongue when he stepped out. Yixing was nowhere and only a dark shadow remained submerged in the middle of the pool. Junmyeon's heartbeat skipped as he tried to call the other's name again, not waiting for an answer when he jumped and swam towards the center.

His curses and prayers were drowned in the darkness, both his eyes and lungs screaming in pain as he moved his body faster against the water.

_Not Yixing. Just drunk._ He repeated in his head as he started to run out of air.

_Not Yixing. Please._ He thought as he moved to resurface for a gulp of air as he tried to reach the body on the pool floor.

Junmyeon was yet to break the surface when a sudden jolt pulled him down. It came from his chest, the implosion causing his lungs to cough out the remaining air. He waved his arms, hoping the movement would give him a push upward yet they remained motionless.

There was only this window above him which showed the moon in the sky and the rest were undulating darkness as he sank. He opened his mouth to call out a name one last time.

_Yixing._

* * *

* * *

  


"I'm not Yixing, though," he muttered, giving the melting ice cubes in the glass of water Junmyeon had left on the island counter a shake and taking a drink for it.

Jiashuai watched as the surface of the pool remained calm once again, and straighted from his leaning on the opened sliding door to approach the pool's gutter.

"Junmyeon, meet the real Yixing. Didi, meet Junmyeon," he said, taking another sip from his drink as he watched the still blue before him.

It would only take three to four minutes for a typical human brain cell to use all of its stored ATP. Junmyeon used 22 seconds out of 60 struggling a bit until Jiashuai delivered a 60 hertz current that made the water peaceful.

His didi had taken a while longer to go down seventeen years ago. Maybe it was because kids were more boisterous and hopeful that they were difficult fires to put out. Yixing's small body was able to splash around and call for help before he became exhausted and stopped screaming, only watching Jiashuai who was by the poolside, with a panic-stricken look as his small face was slowly swallowed by the water. Around an hour later, Yixing was announced dead in the hospital.

No, he corrected himself. It was Jiashuai who had died that day, when it only took one name for his parents to call out of worry. Yixing—that was what his mother called Jiashuai when they hugged him and asked him what had happened. And it was easy to understand that it was Yixing his parents had always preferred between them. A simple reality that Jiashuai wanted for himself, too, and something he easily embraced. Jiashuai died that day. 

There wasn't much difference between Yixing and Junmyeon, he thought. He was relieved that Junmyeon remained his most favourite person next to his didi until the end—Junmyeon being his usual nice self was almost a volunteer when he suggested a vacation and jumped into the pool. The guy was probably still thinking about saving Yixing right before going out. Totally nice and beautiful and meant to be with his didi.

“Caspian’s killer told me so," he muttered, a bit delighted that all those times he scooped out those fishes and threw them on the floor were practice to what was before him. He didn't have to plan much. Junmyeon was willing. It was simple.

Yixing’s gasps and cries from seventeen years ago filled the silence. Less than a minute left in front of the calm electric blue. He hummed the la la la part of the song he had been writing for this specific event as he watched on, noting that Junmyeon had finally heard it. He had fulfilled his promise. Jiashuai found a good friend and lover in Junmyeon, and Yixing deserved something like that, too. Or should it be the other way around?

"Isn't this a complex end?" he muttered when his brain blared how easy and simple everything was and should be.

Eleven seconds remained. A clink of a glass by the gutter, followed by a splash breaking the surface of the calm electric blue ended that hazy summer night.

  
**"In cold blood."**  
  


**— In Cold Blood / alt-j**

**Author's Note:**

> The whole story idea came up while in the shower and alt-j's In Cold Blood was playing. 'Yixing as this certain kind of killer will be perfect' and I had not let go of the idea since. The outline and initial draft was written early this year and was intended to be posted as a summer fic. Creative juices ran out albeit the great summer spent with friends. It was only months later when Absofacto's Dissolve in acoustic was playing that it seemed to me it was the perfect song for Junmyeon's character; as an answer to the In Cold Blood-inspired Yixing. And now it's here. ✨  

> 
> Much thanks to those who've read this story and somehow enjoyed it—except to those who only look out for any activity of this account and approach the comments section thinking I am not aware of the things they've been claiming to know about me outside of ao3. I am not the type to dispel any circulating rumours by explaining myself because it can get entertaining when people choose to remain misinformed. Even if that is the case, I still hope that those who are easy to believe any anecdotes and pass judgement without personally knowing someone can still find a way out of such willful ignorance. Be careful on who and what you believe, especially online, is what I am saying.
> 
> Thanking Noodles for proofreading this story at least thrice. Their insights about the characters and the flow have been really helpful. Noodles, there will be no other Noodles as cool as you!
> 
>   
Again, thank you for reading! Feedback will be much appreciated to improve my writing. The last part of the story has also been revised to address the vagueness raised by the readers on the comment section; edited on May 10, 2020.
> 
> * * *
> 
> **Haven't listened to ZYX' Good Night yet?**  

> 
> [click here. you're welcome](https://music.163.com/m/song?id=1403445370&userid=1975280383)  



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